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Politically Incorrect

El Al flights in Canada: None is too many

by Arthur Weinreb

November 10, 2003

On Thursday, October 23, a flight from Tel Aviv to Los Angeles, with a stopover in Toronto, was diverted to Montreal before landing at John C. Munro Airport in Hamilton, 50 kilometers away from Pearson International Airport where it was scheduled to land. Not only did the return flight again avoid Pearson in favour of Hamilton, but the itinerary of Tel Aviv--Hamilton--Los Angeles and return was repeated by El Al on the following day.

Officials confirmed that a security threat mentioning Toronto was made against Israel’s national carrier. Exact details of the plan were not revealed but speculation is that it involved the threat to attack the El Al airliner with a shoulder-fired missile in the vicinity of Pearson International Airport. A similar attack on an Israeli airliner took place in Kenya about a year ago.

After the first flight was diverted to Hamilton, David Collenette, Minister of Transport and one of Jean Chrétien’s most loyal cheerleader's, stated that he was considering reassessing the airline’s status in Canada. The Minister was quoted as saying, " As to subsequent El Al flights, that is something we’ll have to deliberate, given the intelligence that we receive."

Collenette’s statement was a classic case of "blame the victim". A threat is made against an Israeli airliner and the first thing the minister wants to do is to consider "their status in Canada". Not a word from the timid Collenette about going after these terrorists (sorry, militants) who threatened an attack in the vicinity of Pearson. No--he went straight after Israel and its national airline as the source of the problem.

There has been some discussion recently about the "new" anti-Semitism where hatred against Jews is expressed as a hatred of the state of Israel. Although Israel should not be beyond criticism, blaming that country for one of its airline’s to dare to fly into an area where "militants" might be waiting smacks of an anti-Israel bias that Collenette and many of his Liberal buddies have. Canada spends a lot of time at the United Nations supporting, or abstaining in resolutions that criticize Israel for its behaviour while remaining silent on Palestinian atrocities. Israel, like the United States, is always fair game in this multicultural and multiethnic country of Canada. Does anyone actually believe that if it had been an Air France flight or a British Airways aircraft, that Collenette would have wanted to rethink those companies’ position in Canada. Not very likely.

The truth is that the Liberal Party of Canada has not come as far as it thinks it has from the days of Prime Minister Mackenzie King in the late 30s. When King’s Deputy Minister of Immigration, Fred Blair was asked how many Jewish refugees Canada would take, he answered, "none is too many". Perhaps that should be the answer to how many El Al flights should be allowed in Canada.

So, is Collenette anti-Semitic? No. To give the Minister of Transport the benefit of the doubt, unlike Toronto mayoralty candidate Barbara Hall, Collenette can speak a lot faster than he can think. The timing of his "solution" to the El Al "problem" suggests that he made his comments fairly quickly. He didn’t have time to consult dead parents or dogs the way Mackenzie King used to.

The reality is that Collenette is simply a wimp who is terrified of terrorists, if in fact terrorists actually exist. He’s the guy who got all squeamish when faced with the possibility of having armed sky marshals on airliners. Collenette moaned that Canadians wouldn’t like the fact that law enforcement officers would be armed in the air. As I wrote at the time, these Canadians are the same ones who take their children to parades where the only thing that separates the kids from Santa Clause are police officers wearing funny looking red noses and fully loaded Glocks.

Many members of the Chrétien’s cabinet simply lack the fortitude to take on terrorism. Along with Collenette, who bemoans the passing of the Soviet Union, there is Immigration Minister Denis Coderre who ceaselessly fights to protect the privacy rights of war criminals. Then there is Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham who frets more about the governments of dictatorial regimes like Iran and Saudi Arabia than he does about what those countries do to Canadian citizens.

Note to Paul Martin: We need real men and women in Canada’s cabinet--not a bunch of girly boys. How many present cabinet ministers should be retained? None is too many.